A01=Jacques Berlinerblau
Author_Jacques Berlinerblau
Category=ATMC
Category=ATXD
Category=JBCC1
Category=JBCT
comedians
comedy
comedy controversies
Dave Chapelle
eq_art-fashion-photography
eq_bestseller
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eq_isMigrated=2
eq_new_release
eq_nobargain
eq_non-fiction
eq_society-politics
Kathy Griffin
Louis CK
political humor
politics
pop culture
Sarah Silverman
Shane Gillis
standup comedy
Vir Das
Product details
- ISBN 9780520403031
- Dimensions: 140 x 216mm
- Publication Date: 24 Mar 2026
- Publisher: University of California Press
- Publication City/Country: US
- Product Form: Paperback
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Did you hear the one about the comedian who was canceled?
Comedians are no strangers to controversy or crossing the line. But some things do change. Humorists the world over are no longer simply denounced in grouchy op-eds. Now comedians are being hounded by criminal investigations and civil suits, or forced off the airwaves. They are menaced by vigilantes and religious fundamentalists. Some have been forced into exile, imprisoned, or even murdered. In the age of social media and global digital distribution, the audience is everyone, ensuring that criticism can be as vicious as it is unavoidable.
With a flair for storytelling, Jacques Berlinerblau explores the high stakes of the low blow in this darkly witty examination of American comedians such as Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Shane Gillis, and Sarah Silverman as well as humorists in France, Denmark, Zimbabwe, and Egypt.
Comedians are no strangers to controversy or crossing the line. But some things do change. Humorists the world over are no longer simply denounced in grouchy op-eds. Now comedians are being hounded by criminal investigations and civil suits, or forced off the airwaves. They are menaced by vigilantes and religious fundamentalists. Some have been forced into exile, imprisoned, or even murdered. In the age of social media and global digital distribution, the audience is everyone, ensuring that criticism can be as vicious as it is unavoidable.
With a flair for storytelling, Jacques Berlinerblau explores the high stakes of the low blow in this darkly witty examination of American comedians such as Chris Rock, Dave Chappelle, Shane Gillis, and Sarah Silverman as well as humorists in France, Denmark, Zimbabwe, and Egypt.
Jacques Berlinerblau, Rabbi Harold White Professor of Jewish Civilization at Georgetown University, is author of The Philip Roth We Don’t Know: Sex, Race, and Autobiography and How to Be Secular. His writing appears in The Washington Post, MSNBC, The Chronicle of Higher Education, and elsewhere.
